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38 GINNIE MAE ISSUES $60B IN MORTGAGE- BACKED SECURITIES Ginnie Mae has announced that the issuance of its mortgage-backed securities (MBS) totaled $60.046 billion in October 2019. October's issuances included $57.450 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $2.596 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, as well as $1.737 billion of loans for multifamily housing. Ginnie Mae's total outstanding principal balance of $2.101 trillion is an increase from $2.019 trillion in October 2018. Ginnie Mae investors purchased a record $32 billion of Platinum Securities spread across 217 pools in the fiscal year that ended September 30. Platinum Securities volume in fiscal year 2018 was approximately $20 billion. Ginnie Mae Platinum Securities are issued through the Ginnie Mae Multiclass Securities Program and, according to Ginnie Mae, "provide investors of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) with greater market and operating efficiencies." Investors who hold multiple pools of MBS can combine new or existing MBS into a single Ginnie Mae Platinum Certificate. Once a Ginnie Mae Platinum Certificate has been created, it can be used in structured finance transactions, repurchase transactions, and general trading. "e record volume caps a strong year for the Ginnie Mae Platinum program," Ginnie Mae said in a statement. In April, Ginnie Mae introduced a Platinum product for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), known as HMBS, part of the modernization of Ginnie Mae's Platinum Securities Program. Investors can create Platinum products using fixed-rate MBS (15- and 30-year mortgages), Weighted Average Coupon (WAC), Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), and Jumbo Only Fixed mortgages. "e market adoption of the modernized process for Platinum products has been strong: prior to modernization, fiscal year 2017 production of Platinum securities with fixed-rate collateral was only $7.88 billion," Ginnie Mae noted. "Following modernization and automation inside the new MyGinnieMae portal, volume grew to more than $20 billion in fiscal year 2018." WHERE MORTGAGE DELINQUENCY RATES ARE IMPROVING MOST Some of the most significant drops in delinquency occurred among federal home loans, notably FHA loans, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) National Delinquency Survey. Marina Walsh, MBA's VP of Industry Analysis, noted that the MBA would "continue to monitor the credit profile of new FHA loans, as changes to this profile can have a noticeable impact on future delinquency rates." "Mortgage delinquencies decreased in the third quarter across all loan types— conventional, VA, and in particular, FHA," Walsh said. "e FHA delinquency rate dropped 100 basis points, as weather-related disruptions from the spring waned. e labor market remains healthy, and economic growth has been stronger than anticipated. ese two factors have contributed to the lowest level of overall delinquencies in almost 25 years." Delinquency rates have fallen to their lowest rate in 25 years, and on a year-over-year basis, total mortgage delinquencies decreased for all loans outstanding. e delinquency rate decreased by 56 basis points for conventional loans, decreased 74 basis points for FHA loans, and decreased 23 basis points for VA loans. e FHA delinquency dropped the most from the second quarter, by 100 basis points, to 8.22%, and the VA delinquency rate decreased by 31 basis points to 3.93%. e total delinquency rate for conventional loans decreased 61 basis points to 3.00% compared to the second quarter. Additionally, the three states with the largest decreases in their overall delinquency rate were states impacted by weather in the previous quarter: Alabama (81 basis points), West Virginia (78 basis points), and Mississippi (73 basis points). Many of the loans that fell into delinquency were older loans. One key finding in the survey was that just 14% of all seriously delinquent loans were originated in 2016 or later. However, 25% of FHA seriously delinquent loans were originated in 2016 or later.

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